AN AWARD-WINNING author will talk about her debut comedy crime novel at Balloch Library this Thursday, November 22.

Olga Wojtas will discuss Miss Blaine’s Prefect and the Golden Samovar as part of this year’s Book Week Scotland series of events.

Olga was born and brought up in Edinburgh where she attended James Gillespie’s High School – the model for the Marcia Blaine School for Girls, which appears in Muriel Spark’s classic, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

Olga was encouraged to write by an inspirational English teacher there, Iona M. Cameron, and later became a journalist, writing short stories on the side.

More than 30 of her short stories have been published in magazines and anthologies, but her life really changed when she won the Scottish Book Trust’s New Writers Award in 2015.

That gave her a grant enabling her to spend time as a freelance, and also gave her a week at the Cove Park artists’ retreat near Helensburgh.

Olga said: “It was February, and too cold and snowy to go out, so I just stayed in and wrote, and by the end of the week, I had 22,000 words.

“That gave me something to work on, and the Scottish Book Trust also gave me a mentor, the fabulous writer Linda Cracknell, who helped me to edit the finished manuscript.”

Miss Blaine’s Prefect and the Golden Samovar was published in January this year by Saraband Books.

Olga added: “I was thrilled to bits when it was accepted by Saraband – they have loads of wonderful authors, including Ayrshire-based Catherine Czerkawska, and Graeme Macrae Burnet, whose book His Bloody Project was short-listed for the Man Booker prize.”

A spokesperson for the event said: “Olga Wotjas is a very welcome addition to extraordinary pantheon of Scottish crime writers and this is a great opportunity to see her as she becomes a major star.

“She is a great reader of her own work and this will be a thoroughly entertaining evening.”

The event starts at 7.15pm. Get your free tickets at wdlbws2018.eventbrite.co.uk.

"Olga Wotjas is a very welcome addition to extraordinary pantheon of Scottish crime writers and this is a great opportunity to see her as she becomes a major star.

"She is a great reader of her own work and this will be a thoroughly entertaining evening."

The event starts at 7.15pm at Balloch Library.

Get your FREE tickets at: https://wdlbws2018.eventbrite.co.uk